| Posted by on January 3, 2008 | |
This is a wonderful shot, and it brings back many memories. The N&W K2A Mountain (which sometimes substituted for the normal power on these runs--the class J 4-8-4s) brought the train in from the last engine change point, Monroe, Virginia (north of Lynchburg). This is indeed train 41, the westbound Pelican (to New Orleans). The Southern FP7A-F3B set was very typical power for this time. Notice the freight already "cabbed" on the right (N&W)---ready to leave for Roanoke. The station has been restored, but there are only two tracks today----but it's still a busy line for NS (and still a crew change point).
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Thanks for posting this old picture. I love to see how it was back in the day. This was taken 4 years before I was born. These are also great reference shots for model railroaders.
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Good Shot, I miss the good old days.
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Received this terrific information on the train from Dr. Frank Scheer - posted with his permission.
The first car behind the locomotive appears to be a Railway Express boxcar, perhaps one of their mechanical reefers. There are three additional storage mail cars, with a 60-feet Southern Railway heavyweight RPO. Even though the train ran over the N&W between Lynchburg and Bristol, the Southern Railway provided the RPO equipment used on this train.
This is what the usual consist was for train 41 over the N&W in 1954. From what is visible, it appears to be similar to train make-up in 1952.
CONSIST OF TRAIN NO. 41 LYNCHBURG TO BRISTOL Effective March 15, 1954
Storage Mail Car (A) (B) Greensboro to Cincinnati
Storage Mail Car (B) Greensboro to Cincinnati
Storage Mail Car (Sealed) (C) Washington to Birmingham
Postal Car Washington to Chattanooga
Baggage Car Washington to New Orleans
Partition Coach Washington to New Orleans
Coach Washington to New Orleans
Dining Car Roanoke to Birmingham
Sleeper (10 Sec 1 Compt 1 DRoom) Washington to Roanoke
Sleeper (10 Sec 1 DR 2 Compt) Washington to Shreveport
Sleeper (10 Roomette 6 DB Room) New York to New Orleans
Sleeper (10 Roomette 6 DB Room) New York to Knoxville
Sleeper (10 Roomette 6 DB Room) New York to Bristol
Sleeper (10 Roomette 6 DB Room) (D) New York to Williamson
Sleeper (12 Sec 1 DR) (E) Richmond to Bristol
ALL CARS OPERATE DAILY UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED
Notes: (A) Daily except Monday from Sou at Lynchburg.
(B) From Sou Train 12 at Lynchburg.
(C) Daily except Monday and Tuesday from Sou at Lynchburg.
(D) To Train No. 15 at Roanoke.
(E) From Train No. 15 at Roanoke.
Lynchburg to Roanoke Roanoke to Bristol
11 Cars - Mon 10 Cars - Mon Tues
12 Cars - Tues 11 Cars other days
13 Cars other days
A note about the first two storage mail cars, operated from Greensboro and Cincinnati. One might expect that they would have been taken off at Roanoke and put onto an N&W train from Roanoke to Cincinnati. However, that does not appear to be the actual routing. Since this was primarily a Southern Railway train, I suppose the storage mail cars continued to Chattanooga, the were attached to a CIN & CHATT train operated up the CNO&TP to Cincinnati. This seems to be a very circuitous routing. However, the Post Office Department's Postal Transportation Service ordinarily looked at what train arrangement advanced the mail. That is, distance was secondary to the overall transit
time. If Greensboro to Cincinnati via Lynchburg and Chattanooga yielded the shortest transit time when compared to other routings, that was a justification for using it.
Dr. Scheer is open to further questions at f_scheer@yahoo.com.
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Great shot of what railroading in Bristol looked like in the 50's! The March 2004 issue of Trains Magazine features a short article in the Railroad Blueprint section about railroading in Bristol during the 40's and 50's.
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| Posted by Nikko P on January 4, 2008 | |
This is so wonderful.
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I was born in 1952. Definitely a good year!! Chris,UK
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Shots like this are almost like having a time machine.
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Thank you very much for posting this! A very historic photo, indeed! I would give anything to take a time machine back to 1952 Bristol... see sights like this, take a trip on the nearby N&W Abingdon Branch, as well as a ride on Southern's branch through Mendota.
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